


The Break

by valerhian24



Category: Y Gwyll | Hinterland
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:38:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerhian24/pseuds/valerhian24
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom realizes his true feelings for Mared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Break

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays to my tumblr followers! I hope you enjoy this very short bit of Mared x Tom fluff. It’s a bit summery rather than wintery, set some time in the undetermined future. It’s probably a bit OOC, and totally noncanon. And did I mention it’s fluffy? Anyway, thanks to all of you, especially my fellow Hinterlanders!

After a long, frustrating afternoon getting nowhere with any of the witness they had questioned, DCI Tom Mathias and DI Mared Rhys were headed back south to Aberystwyth to call it a day.  Mared could tell Tom was upset – she too felt as if they had wasted an entire afternoon.  She could only hope the evidence that DS Owens and DC Ellis were sifting through had turned up some leads since they last checked in.

As they passed a park along the seashore, Tom unexpectedly pulled the Volvo over and stopped. He got out, slammed the car door behind him without a word, and walked out toward some picnic tables along the dunes.  As Tom expected, he heard the other door close just a few seconds later.  He stopped next to one of the tables and waited.  It only took a minute for Mared to catch up.  As she passed him, she took a glance at his face. 

“Best give him a moment,” Mared thought.  She headed for the table bench instead.

Mared sat with her back against the picnic table, facing out toward the sea.  The breeze was blowing her hair gently, and the sun was surprisingly warm on her face.  Tom was looking out over the sea, and Mared joined him.  They stayed that way quietly for a few minutes, just gazing at the ocean waves.  After a few moments, however, Mared realized that Tom was looking not at the sea, but at her.  She glanced at him and gave him a slight grin.  She then turned her head back toward the water.

Just a few seconds later, Mared couldn’t resist the urge to look back at Tom.  When she did, she was more than a little surprised to see big smile across his face.  She smiled back automatically.  Not wanting to spoil the moment, she turned her head away again briefly.  Almost immediately, though, curiosity got the better of her, and Mared turned back.  Tom face was still lit with a huge smile.

“What?” Mared asked finally, incredulous and unable to suppress a smile of her own.

“It’s nothing.” Tom replied.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you smile in all the time I’ve known you, I’m sure it’s not nothing.”

“I was just looking at you, thinking how b…” He trailed off.  Tom took a few steps closer and sat on the bench next to Mared.  He leaned forward, looking at the ground.

Mared gave him a minute before she asked, “Are you going to finish that sentence?”

“I’m not sure.” Tom admitted after a few more moments of silence.

“Would you feel better if you did?  I know I would.”  Mared was still smiling when Tom finally looked up and met her eyes.  She had assumed he would have wanted to vent his frustrations about the case, but it no longer seemed that way.

“Okay, then.” Tom took a breath and started.  “I was thinking how beautiful you are, how utterly adorable you look with the sun highlighting your freckles, and a grin on your face.”

Mared felt the shock evident on her face at this confession.  She surprised herself by being more than a little pleased to hear her partner’s admission, but after the day they had had she couldn’t help but feel a bit doubtful.  She was sure he wasn’t being entirely truthful.  “Is that really what you were smiling about, you think I’m beautiful?”

“Not quite.” Tom admitted.

“What was it, then?” Mared asked, as she tried not to let the hint of disappointment she felt show in her voice.

“Just a sudden realization that made me very happy.”  He looked out toward the water, a grin back on his face.

“A realization.”  Mared repeated flatly.

“Yes.” Tom answered, as he looked back toward Mared.

“You’re not going to elaborate are you?”

Tom thought a moment before he answered, “Not right now. Later.”

And with one last look, Tom stood and headed back across the sand toward the car, leaving a mildly annoyed Mared to follow.

 

* * *

 

One short, silent car trip later, and Mared Rhys was back at her desk, where she finished up the last of her notes on the days progress (or rather, lack of.)  DS Owens and DC Ellis had left a short time ago, and Tom Mathias was nowhere to be seen.  “I guess he really didn’t want to give me a chance to ask him to explain all that again,” Mared thought a bit wistfully.

Mared, still annoyed that Tom had left without saying goodnight, decided it was time to call it a day as well.  She packed up a few files, put them in her leather bag, grabbed her keys, and headed out the door.

As she got out to the road, Mared was surprised to see Tom leaning against her Land Rover.  As she approached, the same huge smile spread across his face.  She stopped walking only when she was a few inches from him.  Tom watched her the entire time.  Mared met his eyes, and smiled back.

“So are you just going to keep grinning at me like an idiot, or are you going to tell me what this sudden realization was?” Mared asked at last.

“Do you really want to know?” Tom asked, with his freckled brow furrowed, and smile fading.

With more than a hint of exasperation in her voice, Mared said, “Yes.”

Tom sighed deeply, and hesitated.  Mared started to think this might just be too much for him and she should let him tell her when he was ready.  But she couldn’t.  What he had said at the shore would drive her mad unless she could make some sense of it.  And Tom had been doing so well lately, it was almost like they were, well, friends.  They talked so much more, and not always about work.  Mared decided it really wasn’t unfair of her to ask this of him now.  

While Mared had been deliberating in her mind, Tom had come to his own conclusion.  He needed to say this to her now, while he had a perfect chance.  If he didn’t, it would be just one more item on his list of regrets.  Certain at last, he stood up straight, and began.

“As I was looking at you, noticing how beautiful you are, I realized that I am completely, hopelessly in love with you.  Which makes me incredibly happy, because it made me think, if I can feel this way about you, it means I’m not broken beyond repair, I’m not dead inside.” He paused a moment, shifted slightly, and finished, “I love you, Mared.” 

Mared stared as she felt tears roll down her face. “This is what he couldn’t say to me?” she asked herself, as she felt happiness like she hadn’t known in ages spread though her.  It took her a moment to realize that Tom was watching her expectantly, his face now blank.

Mared took two steps to close the gap between them and wrapped her arms tightly around Tom.  As she buried her face against the side of his neck, Tom tightened his arms around her.  After a few seconds, she whispered, “That makes me incredibly happy, too. I love you, Tom.”


End file.
